Bentley turns back on sports cars
NEW BENTLEY BOSS Adrian Hallmark has ruled out the possibility of the firm making a sports car.
The prospect of a lighter, sportier luxury two-seat sports car to sit alongside the Continental GT family had been on the cards since Bentley revealed the EXP 10 Speed 6 Concept car at the Geneva motor show in 2015. The car, and a subsequent cabriolet variant, were created to gauge public reaction to such models from Bentley.
Hallmark, who returned to Bentley earlier this year to lead the company, said the sports car market is shrinking and the age profile of buyers rising. The Chinese market, where there are younger, wealthier buyers, is gravitating towards saloons and SUVS and not sports cars, according to Hallmark.
“I won’t talk about our decisions on future models, but I’ll tell you what we won’t be building, and that’s sports cars,” he said.
However, the Bentley range is set to expand under his premiership, firstly through more engine variants and other derivatives of its existing models, and in time with additional models. A smaller SUV is one model that’s understood to be under consideration.
Bentley will also move towards electrification, with an electrified version of every Bentley due by 2025. Up first is a V6 petrol-electric plug-in hybrid version of the Bentayga, revealed at the Geneva motor show in March and due on sale early next year.